[1.4] StageRecovery - Recover Funds+ from Dropped Stages - v1.8.0 (March 11, 2018)

[magico13]

The low cutoff is the speed needed to get 100% recovery (if its 6 and your stage has a terminal velocity less than 6 then you'd get 100%). The high cutoff is the speed needed to get any returns at all. Above that speed you get 0% returned. Between those speeds you get a fractional return, following the curve in the last image of the imgur album on the first post.

If you need more explanation, let me know. Its generally best to leave them as-is, but you can tweak them as you feel appropriate.

[BaneOfPilots]

Wow, thanks for the quick reply!

[Errol]

IS the automated recovery of launch clamps an option I'm supposed to turn on somewhere?....because I feel dumb that I can't find it.....

[Rasip]

The last line in the config.txt is

RecoverClamps = True

I'll look to see if it is available in game after i land.

Yeah, if you click the SR icon at the KSC the bottom option is recover clamps.

Edited December 28, 2014 by Rasip

[magico13]

It should be turned on by default, but you do need to go a couple hundred meters away for them to get unloaded and recovered.

[Errol]

I see them there arfter each successful launch to orbit. I even switch between vessels a few times before looking at the launch pad and they are still there.

[magico13]

I see them there arfter each successful launch to orbit. I even switch between vessels a few times before looking at the launch pad and they are still there.

Are they the stock launch clamps? Is there anything else attached to them (lights, etc)? When they are going to be recovered, there is some debug text that appears in the output log file, so if you can get me that file I should be able to tell if it's at least trying to recover them. The best way would be to load up a game, launch a craft with clamps attached, fly up at least 10km just to be safe (though only 3km is really needed), then revert the flight, exit the game, and send me the log. You could alternatively just send me a log from a normal play session when there were clamps in use, but that means I have more to sift through.

[NomenNescio]

So I recently started using the Stock Revamp mod, and it adds a few new parachutes, that your mod doesn't recognize, would it be possible for you to add them in the next update?

[magico13]

So I recently started using the Stock Revamp mod, and it adds a few new parachutes, that your mod doesn't recognize, would it be possible for you to add them in the next update?

I can take a look and try to support them, but if they use the stock parachute model it should work already. Though I think I may have created an issue with the latest update since someone e reported another mod that adds parachutes wasn't working properly.

[Kiapha]

Would it be possible to get this to support the boosted recovery percentage strategies?

Also, great mod, I can't play without it. Thank you very much for creating such a useful mod.

[magico13]

Would it be possible to get this to support the boosted recovery percentage strategies?

Also, great mod, I can't play without it. Thank you very much for creating such a useful mod.

I'm pretty sure it already does, but I haven't 100% confirmed that. Since the strategies only affect the value of "transactions", and the TransactionReason used for all refunds by StageRecovery is "VesselRecovery" the strategy that boosts VesselRecovery transactions should be affecting it properly. Otherwise working with the strategies is a confusing mess and I haven't found an easy way to tell how much a TransactionReason should be modified by strategies. So if it isn't working as-is, I'm not sure how much I can do to make it work properly.

[lyndonguitar]

Will it work with a spaceplane? cause sometimes landing takes too much time

[magico13]

Will it work with a spaceplane? cause sometimes landing takes too much time

It should, but there are some warnings.

1) If relying on engines, it will require a TWR greater than 1, while actual spaceplanes might not.

2) If you leave the flight scene (aka, go to the space center or tracking station) there's a good chance it won't work properly because it can't read any information from the engines, but you can switch to a different vessel and timewarp.

3) You won't get as high of returns as you would from actually flying back to the space center, since it will get "recovered" at about 22 km up.

4) You may still get a small reputation hit for any kerbals onboard, since the game thinks it's killed them for about half a second.

It's generally better to land "precious" stages manually, but StageRecovery is certainly capable of automatic recovery of those things, albeit with the above precautions.

[Errol]

So what would be the best way to get the mod to recover spent transfer stages that need to be decoupled? Is there an amount of spare sepratrons that I can put on a stage for stagerecovery to do an "de-orbit" burn with? Would that stage require a probe core, RT connection, electric charge, enough torque for maneuvering etc.....?

[lyndonguitar]

It should, but there are some warnings.

1) If relying on engines, it will require a TWR greater than 1, while actual spaceplanes might not.

2) If you leave the flight scene (aka, go to the space center or tracking station) there's a good chance it won't work properly because it can't read any information from the engines, but you can switch to a different vessel and timewarp.

3) You won't get as high of returns as you would from actually flying back to the space center, since it will get "recovered" at about 22 km up.

4) You may still get a small reputation hit for any kerbals onboard, since the game thinks it's killed them for about half a second.

It's generally better to land "precious" stages manually, but StageRecovery is certainly capable of automatic recovery of those things, albeit with the above precautions.

alright thanks at least I know the difference between real landing and stagerecovery landing

[NihilRex]

So what would be the best way to get the mod to recover spent transfer stages that need to be decoupled? Is there an amount of spare sepratrons that I can put on a stage for stagerecovery to do an "de-orbit" burn with? Would that stage require a probe core, RT connection, electric charge, enough torque for maneuvering etc.....?

By transfer stages, you mean like LKO-Mun Transfer burnout stages? You will have to experiment to find the proper amount to retroburn them to make them re-enter after separation.

[Errol]

What happens when they go out of physics range if they haven't entered the atmosphere yet?

[steve_v]

If periapsis is below ~22km (greater than 0.1 atmospheres) when going on-rails, IIRC they should be recovered. Otherwise they'll keep "orbiting", possibly dipping into atmo with no effect.

'tis just the way KSP works unfortunately, there's no orbital decay while on rails unless it encounters >0.1 atmo, whereupon it magically dissapears & StageRecovery kicks in.

Edited January 4, 2015 by steve_v

[NihilRex]

What happens when they go out of physics range if they haven't entered the atmosphere yet?

Thats when StageRecovery handles them, if I understand it correctly, outside physics range.

[steve_v]

Thats when StageRecovery handles them, if I understand it correctly, outside physics range.

Or, more accurately, when KSP would otherwise delete them.

[im_sparticus]

I just uploaded 1.5.3 which includes a fix for Kerbals losing experience when recovered by StageRecovery. Thank you lIAceI for discovering the temporary fix, which helped me figure out what was causing the issue so I could repair it on my end

I don't know that it's this wonderful mod or not, but with your latest release my kerbals sometimes don't get experience for their missions. This is especially (perhaps exclusively) true when I recover them from the Tracking Station.

Do you see any way this might be related to this mod? Your issues pre 1.5.3 are the closest I've found in mods I use. It is also very possible this is related to KSP crashes where I didn't restart the system afterward. If it doesn't sound likely and isn't repeatable then don't worry about it.

[magico13]

So what would be the best way to get the mod to recover spent transfer stages that need to be decoupled? Is there an amount of spare sepratrons that I can put on a stage for stagerecovery to do an "de-orbit" burn with? Would that stage require a probe core, RT connection, electric charge, enough torque for maneuvering etc.....?

There's no automated way to have StageRecovery deorbit a craft, but as mentioned by steve_v, as long as the periapsis is below about 22 km (20 km would be safer) then StageRecovery should be able to recover them. As mentioned, StageRecovery kicks in when KSP deletes the craft.

If periapsis is below ~22km (greater than 0.1 atmospheres) when going on-rails, IIRC they should be recovered. Otherwise they'll keep "orbiting", possibly dipping into atmo with no effect.

'tis just the way KSP works unfortunately, there's no orbital decay while on rails unless it encounters >0.1 atmo, whereupon it magically dissapears & StageRecovery kicks in.

Or, more accurately, when KSP would otherwise delete them.

Thanks! That is in fact the correct requirements for StageRecovery to begin trying to recover something.

I don't know that it's this wonderful mod or not, but with your latest release my kerbals sometimes don't get experience for their missions. This is especially (perhaps exclusively) true when I recover them from the Tracking Station.

Do you see any way this might be related to this mod? Your issues pre 1.5.3 are the closest I've found in mods I use. It is also very possible this is related to KSP crashes where I didn't restart the system afterward. If it doesn't sound likely and isn't repeatable then don't worry about it.

It's certainly possible, but StageRecovery doesn't do anything regarding normal recovery. If you want to send me some logs, I can take a look even if it isn't SR related.

[Errol]

Thank you all very much. You keep learning more every day with this game huh? I didn't know that there was a magic number for KSP to start caring about things on rails in atmosphere. I can use that to my advantage. Shouldn't be too hard to make sure I decouple before I get too circular and/or include enough retro-rockets to ensure that periapsis is bellow 20 km before the stages leaves the physics bubble.

Now can stop leaving all that junk in my parking orbit until I get the TAC-self destruct module out of the tech tree.

Can't believe I didn't know that magic number...

[Baythan]

I've been an anti-space junk player for a long time now, so I try to design all my missions to not leave anything in orbit that isn't part of a station or satellite (and these are designed to be de-orbited and recovered when they become outdated).

Early in career this is hard to do, so when that claw becomes available I design and launch an orbital debris cleanup craft that grabs stuff and puts it into a de-orbit path. From then on it's all about orbital refueling and/or free-return trajectories around Mun and Minmus so transfer stages come back and get recovered.

I love this mod because I get some of my money back for these dropped stages, increasing the return from contracts.

[Velant]

Mod not working. I click on stage recovery button in toolbar, but nothing happens.